Back to Life, Back to Reality

Well, that was a whirlwind of a week! I can't believe that Christmas has already come and gone. For some reason this year, it felt like it was just suddenly the week of Christmas. Maybe it was because we didn't have snow till earlier that week...it just felt like it came out of the blue. Our Christmas was great, lots of family came to our house this year to celebrate A's first Christmas. We had so much fun and she raked in way too much loot! She has so many toys now we don't know where we are going to store them all. She has an abundance of really cute outfits that I can't wait for her to wear. She obviously didn't 'get' the whole Christmas/gifts thing this year but she is currently really into grabbing things and pulling so she did open a few of her gifts with some assistance. She would concentrate really hard to reach out and grab a piece of the wrapping paper and then she would just yank away and the person holding the gift would sort of rotate the gift so it would actually get unwrapped.


Let's get down to the food. Christmas Eve was hors d'oeuvres which is a family tradition. This year we had the following: phyllo dough pizza (me), tomato basil squares (C), cannibal sandwiches (H), deviled eggs (Mom), reuben dip (Mom), cranberry orange dip (C), tortierre (CY), pate (CY), Hello Dollies (C)....and countless cookies and candies.

Christmas dinner turned out great, I repeated the meal I made two years ago which was the first time we hosted. I felt justified in doing this because only half of the people were there last time. The standing rib roast a la Bon Appetit was wonderful and made for some great left overs. I also made the spinach porcini stuffing, some mashed potatoes that I added ranch dressing and some cream to, and roasted asparagus. There was so much food everyday all day it's a wonder I can even button my pants at this point. Christmas Eve we traditionally do hors d'oeuvres.

We still have many left overs which I am now trying to eat sparingly as I get back to reality and can no longer afford to gourge on all the goodies at whim. Thank you New Years Eve/my part time schedule for making it a short week and giving me M tomorrow at home to help out. Next week is going to be a real bugger when we get back to full time reality.....

Sick Shnooks

Shnooks baby is sick....green booger, nose dripping, sneezing, coughing sick. Poor little thing. She's tolerating it well, and it was bound to happen sometime. Here's to hoping she's on the mend by the time company starts rolling in next Wed :)

Christmas Menu

I feel like I have so much to do before my family comes next week...I'm still menu planning and that includes the cookies I'm baking this weekend! The cookies I'm planning on making are snickerdoodles (made some this weekend so I already have the dough frozen), compost cookies, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate earthquake cookies and whoopie pies. M is a big fan of chocolate whoopie pies with peppermint frosting..he's fixated on some that his mom used to make when he was little and every recipe she thinks it was, he assures her that wasn't it. I think he's given up on finding 'that' recipe now, and is just looking for a solid whoopie pie.

I am planning appetizers for Christmas Eve but have yet to pick them. I am considering doing miniature chicken alfredo in a large shell and a phyllo dough pizza that I've made befor and is very tasty and very easy. Aside from that, I'm unsure.

The main course for Christmas Day is a standing rib roast recipe from Bon Appetit a few years ago which was excellent the last time we made it. There is a spinach and porcini mushroom stuffing that goes with it, I think I'm going to make an au gratin potato casserole (also from Bon Appetit), rolls, I need to decide on a vegetable yet...

For Christmas morning, I'm making cinnamon buns.

I've started making my shopping lists and timetables....but I still feel so scattered!

On top of the meal planning we need to:

clean the house
get liquor
iron the curtains in the dining room (we just put them up right out of the package with the intentions of ironing and of course never did)
find A a holiday outfit
get a tree
decorate the tree
bake the cookies
find the rest of the Christmas decorations

I'm sure the week is going to fly by...I can't believe one week from tomorrow the family is starting to filter in!

Home Reno

M and I are planning on redoing our half bath this winter...my head is spinning with paint colors!

We have long term plans to rip up the carpet in the living room and replace with hardwood and when we do, we will paint the living room, downstairs hallway, staircase and upstairs hallway. The idea is to do a taupe/brown/tan type color in the hallways and staircase and then do a darker shade in the same color family in the living room.

Then, because that won't jive with the bright yellow in the dining room, we'll need to paint the dining room. I like having yellow in there and I think it needs a light color because we don't get very much sun, but I think I would go with a more subdued yellow, more creamy.

My other thought was a bright orange in the dining room...crazy I know, but I love orange and thought it would look nice and crisp with our wainscoting.

Which brings me to my bathroom dilemma. Do I pick a bathroom color that flows with the current dining room color or pick something more neutral that will go with the future dining room color? My other dilemma is that I keep looking at taupes/browns for the bathroom but I shouldn't do that if I'm going to be using those colors in the halls and living room. Now I'm thinking of a creamy egg nog-y type color. It would like nice with our white baseboards and is neutral so it would blend with the room colors regardless of what they are, but is it too boring? My initial thought was to do orange so you can see this was a quite a leap...

We are thinking of a vanity kind of like this....I think M prefers the dark wood but I could be conviced to go with white...

ny thoughts readers of the blog?

Santa! Cookies!

I'm ridiculously excited about taking A to see Santa on Sunday! M thinks it's silly because she obviously won't remember it and no amount of explanation (it's for us, not her) seems to get him in the spirit.

It's at the town country club which has a nice little restaurant too, we might parlay this trip to Santa into our first lunch outing with little Y since I'm sure the place will be over run with small children...I'll be ok with being out with her there if she starts to cry.

I'm plotting what outfit she should wear, I think one that Grandma Y gave her will fit the bill nicely.

This weekend we are having a couple over...I have to make some cookies and pick up some egg nog. What cookies should I make? I'm debating between our friend B's snickerdoodles or a mint chocolate cookie recipe that J's sister sent. The downside to the mint cookie is that M won't touch it if it has chocolate so the snickerdoodle's just might win.

I have to seriously get finalizing the Christmas menu..did I mention I'm cheating and making the same meal I made last time I hosted? I really don't have time to sit and pour over cookbooks at this point so I'm taking the easy road...sort of. Those recipes weren't the easiest to make. Next weekend is the annual cookie baking day with S and A and the kids, so I have to figure out exactly what I'm making. I'm excited that this year there will actually be lots of people at my house to eat them! We have to find time to get the tree also....so many things to do and not enough time!